SI

J.J. Watt’s Low-key Charitable Donation Leads to Amazing Reaction

The saga of “Justin Watt” donating money on a GoFundMe is hilarious and heartwarming.

Jimmy Traina

J.J. Watt’s charitable donation thrilled one fan.
J.J. Watt’s charitable donation thrilled one fan. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

1. I can’t tell you how much I love this.

It’s no secret that future Hall of Famer and current CBS NFL Today panelist J.J. Watt has done a ton for charities throughout this career. Obviously, the most well-known accomplishment in this area was the J.J. Watt Foundation raising more than $40 million for Hurricane Harvey relief.

Watt’s latest piece of charitable work, though, was done quietly and stealthy, which led to a hilarious and touching revelation.

The backstory: Twitter user @thehullboy1, who is from Malton, England, is running in a marathon and raising money via GoFundMe for mental health awareness.

Watt got wind of @thehullboy1’s story and dropped a donation of £5,000 (about $6578). He did so under the name Justin Watt, not J.J. Watt (whose full name is Justin James Watt), on GoFundMe's website. @thehullboy1 was blown away by the generous donation and took to Twitter to share his appreciation and maybe find out who this Justin character is.

“A person called Justin.” I love the wholesomeness.

That tweet from @thehullboy led to some amazing replies from people overseas who know Watt more as part-owner of Burnley F.C. than as one of the best NFL players of all time.

Once @thehullboy1 saw the replies, he expressed his shock that the donation came from THAT J.J. Watt.

This led to a nice reply from Watt.

And then in a twist only sports fans can relate to and appreciate, @thehullboy1 let Watt know he still won’t root for Burnely.

2. This week’s episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt.

Van Pelt, who just began his 10th year hosting his solo version of SportsCenter and hosts ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown, talks about the addition of Jason Kelce to the pregame show, how he helped recruit Kelce and what he expects from the future Hall of Famer.

Van Pelt also talks about his decade as a SportsCenter host, signing a new five-year contract to stay with the show and the importance of being on air right after big events.

Other topics covered with Van Pelt include Pat McAfee’s recent confrontation with media members at ESPN’s Media Day in Bristol, Conn., SVP’s frustration with a perceived ESPN-FS1 competition and the hypothetical of Inside the NBA joining ESPN.

In addition, Van Pelt tells the story of the time he accidentally said the f-word on air, talks about his weekly “Bad Beats” segment, opines on what he’d like to accomplish with his podcast and much more.

Following Van Pelt, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. In this week’s segment, we discuss Week 1 NFL lines and season over/unders, the DirecTV-ESPN carriage dispute and getting hooked into another Sopranos rewatch.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

3. Obviously, it didn’t count, but this was still a great call by NBC’s Mike Tirico.

4. Everyone associated with football spent the preseason fawning over Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.

The one outlier? The man with a million sports media jobs, Bill Belichick.

This is the stuff that can make Belichick stand out as an analyst.

5. To say I’m looking forward to Netflix’s upcoming documentary series on Vince McMahon is an understatement. Not only is McMahon a compelling subject, but it’s going to be fascinating to see how the show deals with the fact that all the interviews they did with the biggest names in pro wrestling came before the story of McMahon being accused in a lawsuit of sex trafficking, physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault and negligence.

Here's the trailer, which was released Thursday, for the series that comes out Sept. 25.

6. Here’s NFL commissioner Roger Goodell insulting his fans, not telling the truth and refusing to say that he just wants to gouge fans to make money for the owners.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Kevin Harlan has the Jacksonville-Miami game Sunday at 1 p.m. on CBS. To get you ready for the NFL season, here’s seven minutes of Harlan’s best calls.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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